


tazuna

by heichou



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 16:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heichou/pseuds/heichou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sehun knows of the chasm between him and minseok. he builds a bridge anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the title came from the character from naruto, tazuna, the bridge-builder.

 

 

“who’s he?”

sehun directs the question to the boy beside him. _kim jongin. 19. dishwasher. employed for 2 months. sleeps in the supply closet for a third of his shift. reminder to give a word or two to the manager._ his mind supplies.

jongin shifts to peer into sehun’s line of sight, _ah, the new kid._ “kim minseok. he’s in charge of the garbage. i didn’t think we had an opening nor did we have such a job. usually, it’s us dishwashers that are left to throw the garbage. but they said he was persistent.”

sehun nods and continues on his work. it’s the last of the dishes and only a few of the staff are left for the clean up. jongin is humming some ridiculous pop song by the time he finishes. he offers a curt goodbye to which jongin waves with energy unknown to most at one in the morning.

sehun glances at kim minseok—hauling bags of garbage a head taller than him—and without thought, slows his walk to a stop and says _“goodbye”_ which is rewarded with the brightest smile he’s seen at one in the morning.

he heads to the exit with a small smile on his face.

 

 

 

a hand shaking him awake turns to a finger prodding his cheek along with a gruff voice saying _wake up, wake up little sehun._ he shoots up, one hand raised. “i’m up, i’m up.”

“good. here’s the file you requested,” sehun opens his eyes blearily as a folder is placed on his lap. “there’s breakfast on the table, your uniform has been pressed, and the car will be here in twenty minutes.”

“thanks.”

“oh,” sehun looks up to his secretary, kris, in a pristine suit and not a hair out of place. the image seems unchanged despite seven years. a constant sehun won’t ever, ever give up. “your monthly report is today.”

kris ruffles his already disheveled hair and sehun whines out an unnecessary _“hyuuuung!”_ the last thing he hears before the door is shut is kris’s barking laughter and sehun sighs in contentment.

 

 

 

it was three months ago when sehun received a memo from his father. not a call, not a personal visit (sehun almost laughed at that), but a message from his father’s secretary to his own. he was to start working in one of his father’s hotels, most likely the one he lives in, but he was to start from the bottom-up. he’ll be given files of his coworkers to study and a monthly report is required of him. sehun’s not sure what kind of report he can give as a dishwasher but kris later explains that he is to evaluate each of his coworkers.

 

 

 

which is why sehun is in his room curiously scanning kim minseok’s file.

_“he’s 4 years my senior??”_ sehun’s eyes darted straight to minseok’s picture on the corner of the page. as if looking at it questioningly would provide him with whatever answer he’s looking for.

after that revelation, sehun had come to know that minseok has been juggling three jobs a day, the job at the hotel being his third, and that he initially applied as a barista for their café.

sehun presses call on his phone and kris pops his head into his room, smirk on his face. “you rang?”

sehun resists the urge to roll his eyes and closes the folder instead. “let’s start the report. but first,” he extends his arm handing the folder back to kris. “ask kim minseok to make me a cup of coffee.”

 

 

 

minseok has been in a good mood since he came in and sehun can’t help but stare. he’s smiling _that_ smile—his one a.m. smile at six in the evening—as he greets everyone and when it was sehun’s turn, his own little _“hey sehun”_ , he swears he never thought his name could sound that beautiful.

 

 

 

sehun, on his way to the supply closet, hears minseok humming. he belatedly realizes it’s the same ridiculous pop song he hears from jongin and sehun thinks he doesn’t mind it one bit. he opens the door to the supply closet and, _what a surprise,_ sees kim jongin sleeping.

 

 

 

minseok does a lot more work other than his task of collecting the garbage. he wipes counter tops, mops the floor, and even sewed some pretty cool designs on their aprons. he’s never asked to do any of these things but minseok does them anyway. everyone in the kitchen likes him. sehun makes sure to point these things out in his report, pointedly ignoring the curious looks kris sends him.

 

 

 

_“so you want to recommend kim minseok to work as a barista, despite him having worked only a little over a week and in the garbage department?”_

_“yes.”_

_“o~kay.” sehun ignores that lilt in kris’s tone just as he ignored all the times kris raised his eyebrows in amusement when sehun was evaluating minseok. “next, park chanyeol.”_

_“must be kept away from anything flammable. you know what, just keep him away from the kitchen.”_

_“kim jongin.”_

_“he’s good at washing the dishes.”_

sehun would never admit it to anyone, especially jongin, but he likes having him around. he likes their talks even if he blatantly avoids talking about himself, jongin just chalks it up to sehun being shy instead of the haughtiness people usually associate him with. jongin does have his charms if you just try not to notice the trail of drool from his mouth.

 

 

 

sehun spots minseok at his second job on his walk back to the hotel. he thanks his lucky stars that he changed into simple sweats and declined the ride back from school. he enters the bookstore as casually as his nerves will let him and pretends to browse in the section nearest to minseok. it takes sehun a couple of pacing around the small area before

“how may i help— oh! hey sehun!” and there it is again. his name in _that_ voice, from _those_ lips.

“hi hyung.” _keep cool, sehun, keep cool._

“are you looking for something in particular?”

“um. no, no. i’m just browsing, yeah, just browsing.”

“oh, i’ll leave you to it then.” _oh no, he’s leaving. what now? what now?_

“minseok-hyung! do you want to, um, walk to the hotel together…later?” sehun panics a bit at how that sounds so he adds, “you know…to work?”

minseok just smiles and says “sure. i get off work in twenty minutes though. do you think you can wait?”

sehun nods so fervently he’s sure he’s pulled a muscle.

 

 

 

minseok’s really easy to talk to and he laughs at all of sehun’s lame jokes as sehun stands there a little dumbfounded.

 

 

 

he finally gets word from kris about the recommendation.

“what did they say? is it good? can he work as a barista?” sehun hasn’t pestered kris like this since he was twelve and kris can’t really say he missed it.

“yeah.” he can feel sehun moving in for a hug so he steps away with practiced ease. “but, i also requested for your transfer.”

“you whAT?!”

kris looks away from sehun and tries to engage a conversation with a potted plant instead.

“i requested for your transfer and they accepted.” he can feel the glares directed on the back of his head. sehun’s gotten really good at it, he can feel the little hairs on his nape stand up. “you will now work as a waiter in the café. jongin comes too.”

kris finds that he can’t move. enveloped by a nineteen-year-old oh sehun.

“you’re the best, hyung.”

 

 

 

sehun’s wishes he could be the one to tell minseok about his promotion. but kris calls him over and he has a smiling minseok beside him and minseok’s hand on his shoulder as kris tells them their new schedule. sehun thinks he’s good like this. for now.

 

 

 

“you like minseok-hyung.”

sehun almost breaks half a dozen mugs in trying to get kim jongin to shut the fuck up.

_“i do not.”_ sehun hisses.

“you were so busy staring at his ass your face almost made contact with the wall.”

this time sehun does break a few mugs.

 

 

 

 

they walk home together one night.

minseok talks about this new coffee recipe he’s been experimenting on and sehun talks about graduation and college. then there’s silence.

sehun wants to fill it. wants to tell minseok about his absent father. about kris. about how maybe he doesn’t want to go to business school. about how much he likes minseok. but sehun realizes there’s no need. not right now.

so sehun stops at some random street and says, “hyung, my house is up ahead.”

“alright. goodnight, sehun.”

“goodnight, hyung.”

he watches minseok’s shrinking form before walking back to the hotel.

even in minimal lighting, sehun thinks, minseok’s smile isn’t much dimmer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 01/02/14  
> i'm sorry this took so long for something so short. i hope it's good enough. 
> 
> 09/03/15  
> this was originally posted on Jan. 2, 2014 but in a separate post because i was new to ao3 then so  
> anyway i still get emails about people leaving kudos and i can't believe people actually read this   
> I AM SO GRATEFUL I LOVE YOU ALL   
> so i fixed it and attached the second chapter (i know how to do that now) so it's easier for everyone  
> AGAIN THANK YOU YOU'RE ALL DARLINGS ILY ILY

sehun's pissed off. it's not because jongin's been slacking off more than usual. it's not because chanyeol has broken another fucking machine. _seriously, why hasn't he been fired yet? the beast has to be stopped._ no, this time sehun's pissed off because minseok's been getting a lot of attention from most of their female customers and even a few male ones.

sehun swears if he hears another sickeningly sweet _minseok-oppa~_ accompied by excessive eyelash batting, he's going to combust and he's taking this whole cafe down with him.

just then he hears minseok laugh and he looks in that direction to see some guy blatantly flirting with minseok. sehun can't hear the exchange but he doesn't care. at least that's what he tells himelf as he harshly grips the towel he's been using to wipe the tables. jongin walks over to him, eyebrow raised, and whispers, "looks like our sehun's got some competition."

sehun thinks if there weren't any other people around jongin would have cackled like the demon that he is. sehun glares at his back. but, sehun thinks, jongin's right.

 

 

 

he asks kris for some advice.

"hey, have you ever liked someone?" sehun asks this just as they're in the middle of tutoring. for the past half an hour sehun had just nodded to whatever kris had been discussing as the secretary pointed at the same triangle drawn on his makeshift board.

kris looks a bit surprised at the question but quickly recovers and now just looks mildly irritated realizing that sehun had his mind elsewhere the whole time. "of course."

"well, do you like someone right now?"

this is the first time sehun has seen kris blush and he revels at the sight. sehun's about to tease him about it when kris sees the evil glint in his eye and pulls a fast one on him.

"this is about minseok isn't it." 

this causes sehun to sputter and make crude hand gestures. he sees the smug look on kris's face and he makes note to exact revenge. sehun sighs and relents. for now, he mentally adds.

"yes." this comes out almost an inaudible whisper. kris's smile brightening means he's heard it. "what should i do hyung?"

 

 

 

kris tells him two simple words. but just enough to leave his heart heavy and stomach churning.

_be honest._

it's hard when there's so many things he's keeping from minseok. but sehun knows minseok deserves to know the whole lot.

 

 

 

sehun finds the opportunity on one of their nightly walks. it's chilly enough to warrant the lack of space between him and minseok. sehun wants to take it further. maybe pull minseok's hand with his. 

sehun wants, wants, wants, and has been wanting for a long time that he finally does it.

sehun pushes minseok against the nearest wall and kisses him hard. minseok doesn't push him away but it takes a while for him to respond. by then it's all magic and everything sehun has wanted.

sehun pulls away, a little breathless and a little more in love.

"i really like you, hyung. a lot. but that's not all," sehun puts both of his hands on each of minseok's sides. "my father, he owns this hotel. and kris, he's my secretary and the family my father couldn't provide. i recommended you for this position but you were promoted because they saw potential and they were right. the cafe is practically more popular than the hotel." sehun lets out a shaky laugh. "hyung, you're really important to me and it's important to me for you to know just how."

silence. this time, sehun's all too afraid to fill it.

he isn't prepared for whatever minseok has to say. but he certainly isn't prepared for minseok to lean in and give sehun a kiss of his own.

"you were my choice, sehun. right from the beginning."

 

 

 

**epilogue (-ish)**

sehun does get his revenge on kris. there's this restaurant that they frequent not only for the good food but also for its remarkable hospitality. he's in the middle of giving his order when he notices the not-so subtle glances kris gives their waiter. _ah, i should have known_ sehun smirks and this time kris is too preoccupied with staring that he misses it.

sehun reads the nameplate pinned on the waiter's chest. "yixing-ssi," he glances back at kris and sees that the other has turned his eyes on him now. "i'll have my order here but i think my friend _wants to take you home._ "

**Author's Note:**

> \+ i may or may not continue this  
> \+ ah who knows  
> \+ so part one (???) maybe


End file.
